Arabic Hymn of The Nativity

Thanks to Andii over at Nouslife for this rather wonderful reminder of the Middle Eastern roots of our faith, as well as the reminder that not all Arabs are Muslims. He writes:

For me the interest is also that this Christian hymn at first sounds like what we associate with the adhan, the call to prayer in a masjid (mosque). And to hear this plays a part, for me, in realising that there is a far more ancient set of traditions that Islam drew on for its religious expressions (another being the prostrations in prayer which probably came from the practice of Byzantine monks in the middle east, in fact I'm actually wondering whether there is mileage in looking at Islam as a form of laicised monasticism).
Anyway, enjoy. And the linguists might also enjoy spotting similarities to Hebrew and odd words and phrases that you recognise from elsewhere.
I'm also interested in the way that essentially static images (mostly icons) are used to give an interesting and helpful 'moving' storyboard.

Nouslife is a wonderful place for things to ponder - check it out.